Introduction

Living in a world full of technologies, it seems to be an easy decision to make about what technology to use. Many of us follow a 3-step simple decision-making process by asking what we want to get accomplished, what technology options do I have, and then make a decision based on some other factors that matter to us the most at that moment (e.g., convenience and efficiency). There are scholars who challenge this view of approaching technology as a means to an end. Martin Heidegger, a well-known German philosopher, is one of them. He contended,

	… the essence of technology is by no means anything technological. Thus we shall never experience our relationship to the essence of technology so long as we merely conceive and push forward the technological, put up with it, or evade it. (Heidegger, 1977, p. 4)
(image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger)

What he described here seems to be what we’ve been seeing happening in today’s technology world that we quickly move from one technology to another based on the technological affordances that they offer. For a digital leader leading organizational digital transformation (Dx) involving the use of technologies, this instrumental approach may become very costly since no one technology is perfect, and all technologies are evolving. To truly understand and experience the relationship between us and the essence of technology, Heidegger recommended that we approach the use of technology as “a way of revealing. If we give heed to this, then another whole realm for the essence of technology will open itself up to us. It is the realm of revealing, i.e., of truth” (Heidegger, 1977, p.12). Leading organizational Dx and choosing what technologies to include give digital leaders the opportunity to reveal the truth by re-visiting and re-defining, as well as announcing to the world, who we are (e.g., digital leaders), what we do (e.g., Dx), why we do what we do (e.g., for success), and how will what we do affect ourselves and others (e.g., social good) (Floridi, 2008).

One other thing that is deemed important to know, especially in nowadays, is whether technology is value laden. Some people say technology is neutral and its value is embedded and reflected in the decision of the user. Michael G. Moore, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Education at the Pennsylvania State University, contended that “surely they [tools/technology] can’t determine the quality of performance, in either (good or bad) direction” (2004, p. 67). He used playing golf as an analogy that “more than once I have bought a set of new golf clubs in hope that just one more change of equipment will reduce my handicap… I can see how easy it is to blame the tools when things don’t go too well” (2004, p.67). Others disagree and argue that technology is inherently biased and can cause undesired results and lead to unethical conducts. Noble (1986), for example, argues that technology can lead to deskilling which makes skilled workers less valuable. More recent intellectual discourse focuses on the algorithmic systems behind the varying features of technology that may have created or led to ethical and moral issues. Cobbe (2021) claims that “the emergence of extensive algorithmic censorship as a primary form of content moderation by social platforms is an unwelcome development that gives rise to new forms of corporate societal authority” (Introduction, para. 10). Using the term “algocracy” to describe “the unavoidable and seemingly ubiquitous use of computer-coded algorithms to understand and control the world in which we live” (2020, p.2), Danaher raised the concern that the complexed algorithmic system(s) behind the technologies we use every day, to certain extent, undermine our ability to rationalize, manipulate our choices, and dominate our behaviors. Brey lists five ways that technology can be used to manipulate power relations (2007), including delegated coercion, delegated seduction, delegated force, delegated manipulation, and delegated leadership.

Whether the concerns are rooted in the technology itself or something else, one thing is clear to today’s digital leaders – They need to be equipped with up-to-date knowledge and skills so that they can identify, decode, and deliberate on the potential ethical and moral issues that may arise from the organizational Dx they lead.